Darkness
by Pixie photos
Summary: When Dean, Sam and Belle drag a near on dead man from the sewers they didn't expect him to be an integral part of the impending apocalypse. They also hadn't bargained on him being the somewhat legendary John Constantine. But when the demons start closing in neither the Winchester's nor Constantine are quite as well prepared as they thought they were. Constantine X OFC
1. John Constantine

Authors note:

Thanks for reading.

**Chapter 1**

"I hate sewers," Belle exclaimed with a sigh as she waded through the knee deep water with a look of pure disgust on her face.

"They aren't that bad," her brother, Sam, replied from behind her, his eyes following the beam of his flashlight down to the murky water just as the tiny skull of a mouse bobbed passed him on the surface of the water, "actually…"

"Would you two just keep your eyes forward and focus," their older brother, Dean, hissed from in front of them. Belle looked over her shoulder at Sam who simply shrugged, made a face and smiled before they fell completely silent and followed their brother through the maze of tunnels. After a while though the water started to get shallower and shallower, and after what felt like an age the three finally rounded a corner and spotted a stream of early morning day light trickling in through one of the manholes in the ceiling of the enormous pipe.

"Thank God for that," Belle said with a smile as she shook some of the water from her shoes bitterly. Just as Dean spun to say something though a clap of gunfire echoed out around them stopping all three dead in their tracks. Sam unsheathed his demon blade instantly, his hazel eyes flaring as he met his older brother's green irises in the darkness. Dean had his double barrel sawn off cocked and ready as Belle held her own slightly smaller version of the shotgun in front of her. Dean nodded at the two behind him, ducking quietly across to the other side of the tunnel, stepping up onto the ledge at the side and hiding behind the lip in the wall. From where Dean was sitting he could only see down one side of the tunnel clearly, the other side remained uncleared though he figured if he got his siblings out there first they could get a look at the other end of that tunnel. Sam and Belle killed their flashlights and waited for Dean's signal before filing out after him, Belle taking up her own position on the ledge on the opposite side of the tunnel from Dean, her green eyes searching the pipe in front of them.

In the distance in front of her she could just make out what looked like the figure of a man lying propped against the side of the pipe, one leg stretched out in front of him and one hand resting on his stomach. She couldn't quite make out whether or not he was moving though she knew her brother's well enough to know that that wouldn't matter. They would need to go and make sure for themselves whether the man was alive, regardless of whether he was moving around or not.

"There's someone at the end of the tunnel," she hissed across to the two boys.

Dean's eyes narrowed at her comment before looking back out at the other end of the tunnel, his eyes catching the slight movement on the roof, his blood running cold as a sickening realisation tore through him. Both Sam and Belle seemed to notice the shift in their brother's stance, their eyes watching him expectantly as he planted his back against the wall and stared between the two of them.

"What is it?" Sam whispered in the darkness.

"It's an invunche," Dean breathed.

Sam felt his blood run cold, his breath catching in the back of his throat as he stared across the opening at his baby sister, her expression matching his own.

"But we can't leave that guy there," she hissed to them, her eyes going back to the man lying on the floor.

"We don't know how to kill them though," Sam replied from next to his brother.

"I know that," Dean replied, wracking his brain for a solution, "I know."

Belle sat silently watching as the man tried to struggle to his feet though barely got an inch off the ground before he collapsed back against the wall. She couldn't leave him there to die and she knew that he brothers felt the same way. Just as she was about to make a comment Dean was suddenly sitting by her side, two sets of green eyes now watching the man on the ground.

"We might not be able to kill that thing, but we can scare it," he whispered in his sister's ear, his hand pulling out the zippo lighter he ceremoniously carried with him.

Belle's eyes met his in the half-light just as a gut wrenching screeching noise assaulted their ears. It started out softly at first before it ended in an all-out scream causing the three siblings to cover their ears. Belle looked up just as the creature passed the opening to the tunnel the three of them were crouching in. She felt her stomach twist as she noted how the creature's neck was twisted all the way around the wrong way, its eyes totally covered by papery thin flesh. While it looked human enough, Belle couldn't help but notice the disfigured, bony body it was crawling along with. It almost looked like some sort of cross between a human and an insect.

"We have to move, I'll distract it, you two go get that guy," Dean hissed to the two of them. He waited a few seconds for their agreements before pulling out what Belle thought looked like a can of deodorant from his bag. Without waiting a second longer Dean all but threw himself out into the middle of the tunnel.

"Hey! Dumbass!" he yelled his hands white knuckling the potential weapons, "this way!"

The monster rounded on him, its neck making a sickening cracking sound before scuttling back down along the wall towards Dean.

"That's right, come on!" and the eldest brother took off at a run down the tunnel, leading the monster away from the other man.

Belle waited until Dean's sloshing footsteps were fainter before taking off in the opposite direction towards the other person, Sam right on her heels. She skidded to a halt and dropped to a squat beside the man. His blonde hair was plastered to his forehead, his unshaven face pale in the dim tunnel light.

"He's bleeding Belle," Sam remarked as he glanced down at the man's blood soaked shirt, "we have to get him out of here before that thing comes back."

Belle gave her brother a quick nod before looking back at the half conscious man in front of her, "I have no idea if you can hear me, but my name is Belle and this is my brother Sam, we're going to get you out of here. Just bear with us, I promise we won't hurt you."

The man let out a half-hearted groan before nodding his head slightly. Belle exchanged a quick nod with her brother before the two of them carefully propped the man's arms over their shoulders and slowly lifted him off the ground. He let out a low groan as they started slowly towards the ladder to the manhole, Belle's eyes filling with desperation as she realised that getting him out of there was going to be a lot harder than they had anticipated.

"Sam…" she didn't need to say any more though, he was already thinking way ahead of her.

"I'll go first I can lift him up and out of there," he said with a look of determination as they reached the ladder. Belle nodded as her brother carefully let her take the man's full weight against her body. He launched himself up the ladder first, not waiting for a second before jamming the manhole cover off and practically sliding back down to the sewer below. Belle waited a few seconds as Sam got himself into position the first few rungs on the ladder then bent down and with a bit of awkward movement managed to grab the man around his chest and slowly started to practically drag him up the ladder. She stood watching as the two slowly made their ascent up the ladder and out into the daylight, her eyes turning back down the dark tunnel waiting to see her oldest brother, though instead she was met with the eerie monotonous dripping of water leaking from the pipes. She was just about to start climbing up the ladder when an enormous burst of flames exploded at the far end of the tunnel followed by a heinous screeching noise and the rapid sloshing of footsteps in the sewer water.

She barely had a second to react when her brother's voice echoed down the tunnel, "Belle! Get your ass up that ladder!"

Without a second of hesitation she threw herself up onto the metal rungs, taking them two at a time as another flash of flames lit up the tunnel beneath her and just as she was nearing the top of the manhole she felt the ladder shudder beneath her as Dean threw himself up and onto it at a full on sprint. The two emerged seconds later Dean scrambling to slam the cover shut with a loud clang as he collapsed back against the concrete breathing heavily, the deodorant can and lighter still clasped in his hands. The sounds of the invunche clawing and throwing its body against the manhole rang out in the early morning air as Dean tried to regain his breath.

"So, did we save that dude?" he asked sitting up, his eyes coming level with the barrel of a handgun as he did so.

"Yep," Belle said from next to him, her eyes weary as she looked at the man standing over her brother, "we did."

"What happened to him?" the gun wielding man barked.

"We don't know, we found him down there and hauled his sorry ass out here and now here we are," Dean replied, leaning back into his hands as he looked up at the burly man standing over him, "I mean really, is this how you thank people?"

"How do I know you didn't do this to him?" the man spat.

"Please, I promise you we didn't hurt your friend," Sam began though was cut off by the pained voice from the man behind them.

"Chas, put the gun down," the man coughed, his hands still pressing against his stomach gingerly, "they saved me."

The newcomer, Chas, lowered his weapon as he turned to kneel next to his friend sitting up against the wheel of a car.

"What the Hell happened to you?" Chas asked staring at the seeping wound in his friend's stomach.

"Anne Marie mate," he coughed again his expression twisting in pain, "she definitely hasn't forgiven me."

"No surprises there," Chas replied as he pulled a bandage from his backpack and carefully pressed it against his friend's stomach.

The man let out a hiss at the pressure before looking passed his companion to the three siblings sitting on the concrete looking utterly dishevelled and unimpressed.

"Who're you three?" he asked, his British accent thick and heavy as he spoke.

Belle couldn't stop the smirk that spread over her lips, she had always loved the sound of the British, she thought it sounded quite sophisticated.

"I'm Dean Winchester, this is my little brother Sam and our baby sister Belle," Dean said from his position on the ground across from the man, "and you are?"

The man forced a smile, his eyes crinkling at the sides as he sucked in a haggard breath, "well this is Chas and I'm John, John Constantine."

The three siblings exchanged a quick glance before Dean finally dragged himself up into a standing positon, his green eyes piercing as he spoke, "then I think we may some talking to do."

The man looked up at Dean from underneath his heavy eyelids, "I think you're right mate."


	2. Not the first hunt

Authors note:

Thanks for reading all and please leave a comment if you can

**Chapter 2**

Between Chas and the two Winchester brothers they had managed to get John back inside the old castle looking building and onto one of the many beds in the eerily quiet infirmary. In one of the small rooms off to the side of the infirmary Belle had found a set of long nosed surgical pliers, needle and thread, gloves, a bandage, two steel bowls, some tape and then, filling one bowl with fresh warm water and a cloth she headed back out. When she came out into the main hospital like section John was lying on the bed with his eyes closed while Chas sat next to him on the next bed over and her brothers were standing at the end of the bed talking in hushed tones.

"You guys might want to wait outside," she said, carefully setting down the tray of utensils on the bedside table and checking John's pulse.

"I'm not going anywhere," Chas replied with a stern look, "not with him like this."

"Our sister knows what she's doing, your buddy will be just fine," Dean exclaimed from the end of the bed.

"We need some help checking the rest of this place out anyway," Sam said softly, "make sure there aren't any other demons that want to steal children still floating around."

Belle had always liked how Sam was the voice of reason in the family. Dean was almost always guaranteed to take the more gung-ho approach and get in the thick of the battle without much consideration. Belle was the quiet one of the three, she usually let them make the decisions and then would spend her time worrying about her brothers and usually she would be the one to go and talk Dean down when he lost it. Sam on the other hand was the reasonable one of the three, he always seemed to know the exact thing to say to make things right. It was almost like he just knew how to interact with people on a level that neither Belle nor Dean had managed to master. Whether it was his experience in college or the fact that he had been through so much with so many different people, Belle didn't know, but she always admired her older brother for that.

"Chas," John's voice was tiny in the enormous room, almost inaudible.

The man skidded closer to his friend, "what's up?"

"Get out," John forced a half smile at his friend before erupting into a fit of coughs.

"I swear if you so do anything other than save that man's life," Chas growled at Belle, his eyes fearsome in the half lit room.

"He'll be fine," Belle replied, meeting the man's gaze, "you have my word."

Chas watched the young girl in front of him for a few minutes longer before nodding and stalking out of the room after Sam and Dean. Belle sucked in a deep breath before setting up the tools on the edge of the bed and sliding on a pair of rubber gloves.

"I'm not going to lie to you," she said with a half-smile, "this is going to hurt like hell."

Constantine managed to gurgle out a half laugh half cough before replying, "trust me darling, I've had much worse."

Without another word Belle removed his tie and undid the buttons on his now blood stained white shirt, she had to put a huge amount of effort into not staring too long at the lines of his abdomen and the way the muscles pulled against his skin with every breath he took.

"All right, let's do this," she carefully wiped the blood from around the wound, her focus purely on the gaping hole in his lower stomach as he let out a growl. Belle had already checked to make sure the bullet hadn't actually gone all the way through, much to her dismay she could quite clearly see it hadn't.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she took the pliers in one hand and, placing her free hand on his stomach, started digging around inside of the hole. John let out a growl, his back arching off the bed slightly with the pain, though Belle's hand remained on his stomach firmly as she got a grasp on the end of the bullet and agonisingly slowly extracted the metal from his body.

"Mother fucker!" John gasped, falling back against the bed, his breathing haggard as he placed his hands over his eyes and tried to get a grasp on what he was feeling.

"I told you it would hurt," Belle said dropping the bullet with a clink onto the tray, "unfortunately, there's still more in there."

All he could manage was a half-hearted groan in response before she was digging around once more, the pliers moving underneath his skin in the most alien way possible.

Belle had managed to extract the rest of the bullet without too much hassle, making sure there was nothing left before cleaning the wound and stitching it back up, carefully placing a bandage over the top of the hole and taping it down.

"Thanks," he croaked once she had smoothed down the last piece of tape onto his skin.

"You're welcome," Belle stripped off the gloves and removed all of the utensils from the edge of the bed, returning them to where she had originally found them.

"This place has more goddamn supernatural activity than Hell itself," Dean and Sam came wandering back in with Chas just as Belle was walking in.

"How's the patient, doctor Winchester?" Dean asked with a smile, draping his arm over his little sister's shoulders.

"He'll live," she replied with a tired smile, her green irises meeting Chas's clouded ones across the room. He gave her a slight nod before walking over and taking a seat next to his friend once more.

"Did you guys find anything out there?" Belle asked once they were out of earshot of the other two.

"Other than some random rogue ghosts, not much," Sam replied with a shrug, "I can't work out if the thing in the sewer had strayed away from its lair or if it was protecting it, or something else."

"Chas did say that the crazy Nun was taking babies and was going to deliver them to someone, or something right?" Dean asked, his eyebrows narrowing in thought.

"So?" Sam shrugged.

"Maybe that thing was just there to collect," Dean replied, "it seems a bit weird that its lair would be in a sewerage system in Mexico don't you think?"

"Why?" the three turned to see John and Chas staring at them intently.

"What?"

"Why is it weird that the lair would be in a sewerage system in Mexico? I mean," Chas looked across to where his friend was trying to sit up in the bed as he spoke, "it's perfect, no one would go down there to find someone, the place smells like a cesspool, it's quiet, it's dark and yet it's still close enough to the real world."

The three siblings exchanged a quick look before Belle finally spoke, "that makes sense, except for the fact that we have been tracking these things for a while, and we _know_ they don't live down here."

"What?" the two men chimed in unison.

"That's impossible," John coughed, "no one has ever seen an invunche let alone know where they hide out."

"We aren't exactly no one," Dean said with a shrug, "we've seen a lot more than most."

"Like what?" Chas asked, his voice more curious than sceptical.

Belle shook her head, her green eyes casting down to the scuffed black boots she was sporting, "nothing you want to know about."

Dean's expression seemed to darken as he looked to his youngest sibling, his eyes filled with something that neither Chas nor Constantine had seen before.

"Try us," Chas said after a moment.

"No," Sam's voice was sharp in the empty space, his body tense and his shoulders squared as he turned to the two across the room.

Dean's eyes crossed between his two siblings, the sudden urge to protect the two of them bubbling up inside of him like he had never felt before. He had always been protective of his brother and sister, Belle sometimes more so than Sam as they got older, but that was only because he knew Sam was capable of taking care of himself, he had been the one to train him mostly. But he had never felt the way he did at that moment. They had shared so much of their lives together, he honestly couldn't pick a single moment when his siblings weren't there with him. Hell though, was something completely different. The three of them had suffered in a way that they couldn't even begin to describe. It was a memory that pained each and every one of them in a very different way. They had each had their own very unique and horrific experience in the pit, but each of them had been through what could only be explained as the most heinous experience ever. They had never even spoken to each other about what they had seen down there, let alone to someone else outside of their family.

Chas seemed to notice something in the tone of Sam's voice and instead of arguing the point further he simply nodded and let the topic go.

"So what exactly do you suggest we do then?" John asked with a wince after a brief pause.

"Rest up, head back home and leave it to us," Dean said with a glance at the two standing on either side of him, "this isn't our first hunt."

Before either of them could say anything more though the three were already heading out of the infirmary, Belle speaking briefly to one of the Nun's about John needing to be checked on before walking out of the front doors and towards the familiar comfort of the Impala waiting in the parking lot.


	3. Men of Letters

Authors note:

Thanks for reading all and please leave a comment if you can

**Chapter 3**

"So, the only thing that I managed to find on the invunche was something about having no eyes and a leg that was broken and twisted up onto its back," Sam came wandering up into the main dining cross study area with an old leather bound book in his hands, his hazel eyes scanning the page as he spoke.

"There's a theory here that says each invunche is created or born from a disfigured foetus," Sam's face scrunched up in disgust as he took a seat across the long wooden table from his siblings and continued reading, "the other theory is that they were created by a coven of South American male witches known as the 'Brujeria'. They used them to guard their ritual sites and lairs, but neither of those two theories has ever been proven correct."

Sam dropped the book down onto the table and spun it so Dean and Belle could see the rough sketch on the page.

Dean's nose wrinkled slightly as he leaned forwards to look at the picture, "that looks like the ugly son of a bitch. Does it say anything about how to kill them?"

Belle's eyes were scanning over the page as Sam answered his brother's question, "I couldn't find anything else, that little passage there about them having disfigured faces, screwed up limbs and being guards was about the extent of it."

"What about the Brujeria? Did you find anything about them?" Dean asked leaning back into his chair and looking across at his little brother.

Sam sucked in a deep breath and met Dean's gaze, "the only thing I could find about them was their link to the invunche and," he paused looking down at his hands briefly.

"And?" Dean and Belle pressed in unison.

Sam sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy hair, "and their main goal was to destroy heaven and bring about something called the 'darkness.'"

The three remained silent for a moment before Belle spoke, "the 'darkness'? As in 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.'?"

Dean gave his sister a bemused look, "did you just quote the Bible?" he chuckled.

She felt her face flush a little before looking back at the laptop screen in front of her, "maybe."

"Since when did you become the faithful little Christian follower?" Dean laughed.

"Shut up Dean!" Belle smirked, throwing a balled up piece of paper at her brother lightly.

"Well," Sam leaned against the table with a smile, "all creepy religious connotations and dedications aside, you're right. That's the darkness the Brujeria is aiming for. I think they want to strip everything back to bare bones and start over."

"And the only way to do that is to completely shatter heaven and rebuild from the top down," Dean sighed his palms rubbing against his tired green eyes, "awesome."

Sam was about to say something else when there was a resounding banging from the entrance. The three Winchester's shared a brief glance before scraping their chairs back and heading towards the stairs in the other room. The three of them were nearly at the door when it slid open on its hinges, the shirt and tie clad man standing with his hand poised ready to knock coming into clear view just as Belle stepped up onto the landing.

"John?" Belle exclaimed glancing around her brothers to look at where Constantine was standing in the doorway.

"Hey kids," Constantine's heavy British accent made Belle smirk, "how you doing?"

"Why are _you_ here?" Dean's icy tone wiped the smirk from his little sister's face almost instantly.

Constantine ran a shaky hand through his sandy blonde hair and looked between the three incredulous faces in front of him, "I just thought I should say thank you for saving my ass back there and I figured that a box of chocolates and some flowers probably wasn't the best way to do that."

Sam folded his arms across his chest with a scowl, "how did you find us?"

"It's not exactly rocket science mate," John stuffed his hands into his pockets and shifted the weight forwards on his feet, "I used a tracking spell."

The three siblings exchanged a quick glance before Belle asked what all three of them were thinking, "you need something that belonged to the person you're trying to find to do that though, or at very least something that they touched, how did you find something that we owned?"

Realisation hit Belle as the man briefly glanced down at his shirt before looking back at her with a half-smile saying, "there it is."

"There what is?" Dean growled, the muscles in his arms tense, his green eyes never once leaving John's face.

"He used the gloves and medical supplies I used to patch him up," Belle answered, running her hand through her waist length brown hair.

"Because _that's_ not creepy," Dean exclaimed pulling a face as he looked back at his youngest sibling.

"Okay, fine," Sam shoved his hands in his pockets and looked over to where Constantine was waiting in the doorway, "so you found us by being some kind of creepy stalker magician, you've said your thank you now maybe you should leave, we have some other things we need to get working on. Like the impending apocalypse and all."

The three were about to make a move and close the door when John's hand flew out and landed square in the middle of the heavy, impenetrable steel door, his voice heavy as he spoke, "there is something else I came here for."

"Here it goes," Dean whispered.

"Dean," Belle hissed at her brother, her stunning green irises enormous as she looked to John expectantly, "what else can we do for you?"

Constantine shifted again where he stood, uncharacteristically uncomfortable as he met Belle's gaze, "I have a friend, Zed, who has been helping me out recently. She, uh, she shouldn't really have gotten involved with all of this but she's a persistent little thing and so she's been staying with me recently. When we came back a few days ago, Chas and I found the place in an absolute mess and Zed was gone. I haven't been able to do any tracking spells on her or anything. We even went back down to Mexico and couldn't find anything there either. I've tried everything I could think of and as much as it pains me to be standing here, I know you three have a reputation for saving lost and hopeless souls."

Sam, Dean and Belle stood staring expectantly as Constantine stopped talking, Dean finally breaking the silence first, "you're going to have to actually ask for our help there Mr Bean. We don't exactly go dolling out our services without reason."

Constantine folded his arms over his chest, mirroring the oldest Winchester's stance, "Mr Bean? Seriously?"

"Not going to actually ask for help? Seriously?" Belle retorted with a raised eyebrow.

Their English guest let out a long sigh before finally, begrudgingly and refusing to meet their eyes said simply, "would you three be willing to help me find my friend Zed? Please."

Before Dean or Belle could say anything, Sam was already extending his hand towards John, "of course we will help you find her."

"Woah," Dean held his hands up in front of his stomach in a half shrug, "are we not going to talk about this first?"

Belle looked between the three men as Sam rounded on his brother, a look of utter menace and annoyance clear on his face. Before he could come back with some kind of smart remark though Belle stepped between the two of them, her forest green eyes matching her eldest brother's murky ones, "Dean, you know full well we are going to help him find his friend."

"Why do I know that?" he grumbled defiantly.

"Because it's what we _do_ Dean. It's what we have always done. Dad got us into this stupid game, dragged us around pretty much from the second we were old enough to hold a gun and had us saving people. Dammit Dean we have saved more people than we can count, probably more people than we even realise. Just because this guy has a bit of background knowledge on the subject doesn't mean we should just let him do this alone," Sam was nodding along behind his little sister.

"We've been lucky enough to have each other through all of our 'adventures' but if we ever needed help we had people we could turn to. Hell we've _been _the people other hunters turn to more than once, why should this be any different?"

Belle was about to continue on her rant when Dean finally raised his hands in a mock 'I surrender' sort of way, "okay, okay, God ease up on the inspirational speech okay," he turned to face John once more, "we'll help you find your friend."

Just as John was about to step inside though Dean took a step in front of him, effectively putting himself between Constantine and his siblings, "but mark my words, if this gets remotely out of control, if me or _any _of mine are put in danger, we are out. I will _not_ stand by and watch my family killed for some rescue mission. Am I clear?"

John's shielded blue eyes met with Dean's fearsome green ones as he responded, keeping his gaze even as he spoke, "mark _my_ words mate, the second this goes South, I personally will extract you and yours before you have a chance to even blink."

The two men stood staring at one another for a few seconds longer before Dean finally gave him a curt nod and took a step back, "then welcome to the 'Men of Letters' home base."


	4. Now what

Authors note:

Thanks for reading all and please leave a comment if you can

**Chapter 4**

Dean's fingers were digging into Belle's arm as he dragged her out of the main study and down the stairs into the library, spinning her around to face him once they were out of sight.

"We've had your little boyfriend here for just over a day now and so far all he has done is draw symbols on our floor and made the entire place smell like smoke. What _exactly _is it we're meant to be doing?" he hissed at his sister, his green eyes flared with impatience and annoyance.

"Firstly," she yanked her arm out of his vice like grasp and rubbed the skin on her arm angrily, "ouch."

"Oh, please, I wasn't even…" she cut him off before he could say anything more.

"And secondly, he is here because we promised to help him _Dean,_" she folded her arms over her chest angrily, "why are you being such a jerk about it?"  
>"I'm being the jerk? <em>I'm <em>being the jerk?!" he was getting angrier by the second.

"Yes!" she spat back, "you are, you've showed him nothing but contempt since he got here. Would you _please_ try and be nice. Please?"

Her brother glared at her incredulously before throwing his hands up in exasperation, "fine. But if he doesn't start getting leads soon, he's out. Got it?"

Belle was about to bite back at her brother when the rather distinct sound of Castiel's voice floated out to meet them in the room, "he won't get any leads. Not any time soon at least."

"Cas!" Belle couldn't stop the beaming smile that spread across her face as she wrapped her arms around the angel's neck.  
>"Hello Belle," he placed his arms around her waist tentatively after a brief pause. He had come a long way after losing his grace, though there were still a few things that Castiel had to learn. Though he was getting a lot better at giving hugs and Belle made a point of hugging him whenever she saw him.<p>

"What do you mean he won't get any leads any time soon?" Dean asked, totally ignoring the appearance of their friend, not even acknowledging him with a 'hello'. While Cas seemed not to notice, Belle did, her eyes narrowing and her lips pursing together as she glared at her brother.

"The woman he is searching for is protected under some of the strongest spells this world has to offer. He will not be able to locate her utilising the 'gifts' he has been given," the angel looked between the two siblings standing in front of him.

"And how would you know that mate?"

Belle and Dean spun to see Constantine standing on the step to the library, his hands firmly in his pockets and a tired look on his face.

"I know more about these matters than most John Constantine," Castiel replied evenly.

"Interesting that you know my name yet I don't know yours at all," John replied coolly, unmoving from his position on the step.

"Cas," Sam was leaning over the balustrade with a smile, "how are you?"

The angel returned the smile as Sam came wandering down the stairs and joined them in the main library, "I'm good Sam, how are you?"

The two men shared a brief handshake, "oh you know, trying to stop mayhem and chaos raining down on the world."

"All right, we get it, you're happy to see him and you're very busy, we're all very busy, could you _please_ just tell me _how_ you know that I won't be able to track Zed?" John was getting more and more frustrated with every passing moment. When no one seemed to even notice him though he found the anger rising to almost bursting point, until Manny came wandering into the room casually.

"Of course," John sighed, realising that everyone was basically frozen where they stood, that was why he was getting no responses.

"You're making friends with the Winchester kids? Really?" Manny looked from Dean to Sam to Belle then over to John.

"He is making an amicable choice and getting assistance from people that are actually capable of helping," John blanched as Castiel turned to follow Manny walking over to the Englishman.

"You can see him?" John asked with a shocked look on his face.

"Of course he can see me," Manny replied not looking at John, "he's an angel as well. Castiel, how are you?"

"I would be better if you weren't here," Castiel replied with barely concealed contempt.

"Why would it be better if you weren'yt here?" John repeated, glancing between the two angels.

"Castiel and I never quite saw eye to eye," Manny replied through clenched teeth, "clearly my being here unnerves him."

"It does not unnerve me, it annoys me," Castiel bit back.

"Apparently losing your grace made you painfully impotent and sadly human as well," Manny replied with a smug look on his face.

"Enough," Constantine stepped down off the stair and came to stand beside the two of them, "I need to find Zed, and if either of you two aren't going to help me then move along and let me get back to work."

The two stood staring at one another for a moment before Castiel finally turned to face John, "I can help you find your friend. The only reason I knew that she would not be able to be found with spells was because any person taken by the Brujeria generally cannot be found, unless they desire it. "Also," he turned to Manny, "you do not have to hide from the Winchesters, they know of angels, and you being here will certainly be of no concern to them."

Manny let out a half-hearted sigh before clicking his fingers, the world around them suddenly back to normal, the three siblings moving and breathing as they had been moments prior. Dean noticed Manny first though.

"Who the Hell are you?" he barked stepping forwards in front of his brother and sister slightly.

"Kids this is Manny, Manny this is…"

John didn't get a chance to finish his introduction, "Dean, Sam and Belle. I know. I am familiar with you three."

"How do you know us?" Sam asked, his shoulders tight with apprehension.

"You don't spend centuries in heaven and not know who the Winchesters are," Manny replied simply.

"So you're an angel too then?" Belle enquired.

"Yes, was that not obvious?"

Dean shrugged a little, "you seem to have the asshole thing down and you appeared out of nowhere but we thought we should check first before just assuming. Just in case you were actually just a human asshole."

"Dean," Sam hissed from behind his brother.

"Is there something you needed from us?" Belle asked after a moment's pause.

"Not exactly, I just needed to see why Constantine was opting to spend his time with people such as yourselves," Manny replied with an unimpressed look at the three siblings.

Belle instantly tugged on her rather short shorts, looking down at the oversized hooded jumper and slipper combo she was sporting.

"Do not let him make you uneasy," Cas was looking at Belle as he spoke, "he does it because he enjoys making people uncomfortable. Ignore him."

"Ignore me all you wish, I do not care, I'm here to deliver a message," the new comer straightened up a little more, something that Dean had been certain wasn't possible for him to do.

"And what message would that be?" Dean asked with a bored look on his face.

Manny turned to face Constantine directly, the look on his face sending chills down John's spine, "that creature in the tunnels was not the first, and will certainly not be the last of its kind. I have been advised if you are unable to stop these creatures and the impending darkness they bring with them, then we will be forced to take the matter into our own hands."

Even Castiel was looking confused.

"What exactly does that mean? 'Take matters into our own hands'?" Sam asked stepping out from behind where his brother was half shielding them, "Whose hands?"

Manny turned his gaze to the Winchester children, "heaven."

"Heaven is divided, we are in turmoil, after the Megatron incident there is no one left up there, who is it that sent you with this message?" Castiel asked, a burst of fury passing through him momentarily.

Manny met Castiel's gaze this time, his eyes unwavering and his glare so intense Belle was wondering if one of them was going to spontaneously combust or something on the spot, "God."

"What?" The four mortals exclaimed at the exact same moment.

"God's left the building man, you know that as well as we do," Dean added.

"No," Manny turned back to face Constantine, "he has not gone anywhere, he has been observing this mayhem from below and he has seen the impending darkness. He will not stand idly by whilst the world he has created burns."

"So what's he going to do about it then if we can't stop these crazy sons of bitches?" Belle asked.

A harrowing sort of stillness fell over them as Manny spoke, "he's going to totally wipe the earth. Start over. He created this planet and he can just as easily destroy it and start over with something new. So I suggest, if you want to keep this little rock of filth, you start trying a little harder to find a way to locate the Brujeria."

And before any of them could say any more Manny was gone, Belle's eyes went straight to Castiel, her heart hammering in her ears, "Cas?"

"I'll check it out," and with that it was just the three siblings and Constantine standing in the somehow overbearing library.

"Now what do we do?" Belle asked after a long pause, her voice tiny in the room. Dean looked back over his shoulder momentarily before fixing his steely gaze on the newcomer in front of him.

"Now we see just how powerful our research skills combined with this guys supposed dark arts are."

Constantine let his head fall forward for a moment before saying, quite dejectedly, "I'm getting new cards made."


	5. Vampires

Authors note:

Thanks for reading all and please leave a comment if you can

(big thank you's to Silently Tearful and Animagirl for commenting – I promise in chapters to come there will be more Constantine and Belle, just be patient with me, I'm building something! Thanks guys!)

**Chapter 5**

"We have to go out for a bit," Dean and Sam came up the stairs behind where Constantine and Belle were sitting across from one another at the enormous wooden table.

"Where?" Belle stood instantly, her eyes taking in the neat suits the two were suddenly sporting instead of their usual jeans and t-shirts.

"Vampire case," Sam said uneasily.

"Why didn't you tell me, I'll go get my stuff," Belle moved out from behind the table making for the doorway.

"You're not coming," her oldest brother's voice echoed out across the room, "not on this one."

Belle spun on her heel, ignoring the pitiful look Sam was giving her and stared at Dean, "are you kidding me? Why not?"

"Because, after the last incident we had you're not going anywhere near a goddamn vampire nest again," he bit back, pocketing his badge and checking his gun.

"Oh come _on_ Dean that was _one time_."

"That nearly cost us our lives kid," he shook his head, "you're staying here. We finally have somewhere safe to leave you and besides, I'm not leaving this jackass here alone with all of our stuff."

"Charming," Constantine grumbled, not even looking up from the book he was taking notes from.

"Dean I'm not a little kid anymore, I can handle vamps I swear, and even if this idiot did take something of ours we know who he is. He's not that hard to track and to be honest he's not as tough as he thinks he is," Belle tried to reason.

"Hey," John looked up and gave Belle a wide eyed stare, "I'm right here you know."

Belle gave him a half-hearted shrug, her attention still on her brothers.

"You're not coming Belle, end of discussion," Dean grabbed the keys from the tabletop.

"Sam?" Belle turned to face the hazel eyed boy with a look of pure pleading.

"I know you want to come Belle, but Dean is right on this one, there's too much at stake here. I'm sorry. Next one, I promise, I'll make sure you're there," he gave her a slight smile and a shrug before following his brother up the stairs and out of the bunker.

Belle threw herself back down into the chair across from John and went back to looking on her laptop with a loud sigh.

A few moments of silence passed between them before John finally looked up from his book with a smile, "so what happened with the vampires last time?"

Belle let out a long sigh and folded her arms over her chest, slouching back into the chair, "it's a long story."

"I have some time," he gave her a smile, his blue eyes seeming to sparkle in the artificial lighting. Something about the way he was looking at her made Belle's cheeks flood with colour. She had already found herself admiring him on more than one occasion since she first met him though this time was different. This time he was giving her the same attention back.

"Well," she drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, "my Dad, my brothers and I were working this job a few years back. Somehow we had managed to find this nest of vamps. Dad had told me to wait in the car while the three of them went off and worked out some sort of elusive plan of attack."

"You didn't listen though did you?"

"What makes you say that?" Belle glanced down at the computer screen before looking to the man across from her.

"You just don't exactly strike me as the kind of person to listen when you're told to sit out of a fight," he beamed.

Belle couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped her lips, "well you'd be right then. I'm not. I hate being told to sit out."

"Figures," he draped one long arm over the back of the chair, "so what happened?"

"I took matters into my own hands. My eighteen year old self figured that I was more than capable of handling it, what with the extensive experience I had with vampires and the hours of research I had done on the creatures I thought I knew what I was doing," a sad sort of smile spread across her features, John remained silent as he watched her all but reliving the experience in her mind.

"I snuck in there, stun grenades in one hand, a falchion in the other and I started beheading vampires in their sleep. I figured I was doing really well you know, I had cleared the entire room pretty quickly. I mean it was a blood bath by any standards, but it was finished. Or so I thought. I hadn't taken into account that the room I was in was only one of the hundreds that stretched out into this enormous manor house," she shook her head slightly and let out a soft sigh.

Constantine simply listened, not saying anything or even doing anything as she continued on.

"Of course I got my ass handed to me, chained up and used as bait. Now the one thing you need to understand about the Winchester men is that they are fiercely protective of their own. Stupidly protective. My Dad came in first, took one look at me and their entire plan was out the window. The three came charging in and were swarmed. With some pretty amazing back up and some incredibly stupid moves we managed to bust our way out of the place, flooded it with light and waited until the assholes were just weak enough not to fight back and cleared the lot," she settled back into the chair and shrugged, "no masters or anything but it was one less clan to deal with."

John sucked in a deep breath, his shielded blue eyes still on Belle, "well, your adult self seems to have grown up a lot since then, you don't strike me as the sort of lass that would go running into the middle of a vampire nest. Not any more at least."

Belle couldn't stop the smile that spread across her features, "yeah, well, one mistake too many and you start to learn exactly what it means to be living in Hell."

Constantine shifted slightly uncomfortably in his seat, his eyes flickering back down to the book in front of him, "you're telling me. Hell is a whole different story love, as I'm sure you know."

Belle nodded slightly, watching as John toyed with the edges of the book on the table, speaking after a few moments of silence had passed between them, "this is sort of nice you know."

"What is?" he looked up, hand hovering just above the book, "the impending end of the world and looking for century's old magicians and their sick pets?"

"No," Belle smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear absently, "I mean being able to talk to someone else about this stuff knowing that they completely understand what is happening and what you're talking about."

"You have your brothers though, surely you talk about this stuff with them," John replied easily.

"Well yeah of course, but this is different. This is someone outside of the normal circle of people we know," she picked at something non-existent under her fingernail, "or knew at least. Our life doesn't exactly lend itself to having friends and people we care about much."

"Don't I know that."

"It seems to be the way things goes in this line of work. The more people you're close to…"

"The more chances there are for you to be hurt. I know that one love, trust me. It's a lonely business this, but can you honestly say you'd trade it?"

Belle considered that for a moment before standing up out of the chair and stretching her back, her vertebrae popping and cracking with her movements, "you know I used to think that this was the only life I ever wanted. Living on the road with my brothers, saving people, living this shadowed life of supernatural heroes and villains. But these days I find myself wondering what it would be like to live like everyone else. Oblivious to the death and destruction, still afraid of the dark but not because they know the creatures that dwell there don't know that the bogey man and ghosts actually _are_ real and _want_ to eat your soul, but being able to shake that fear by convincing themselves that none of it was real. I wonder what it would be like to have the white picket fence and the two kids with the pets and the perfect husband. I guess I just wonder what it would be like to have lived and live normally."

John stood up out of his chair and came to stand beside the woman, his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face, "it would have been boring as anything love. Working a nine to five job that you hated and wished you didn't need. Two screaming brats that don't understand the word 'no' and a piss poor excuse for a husband that is never around and spends his free time out with the 'lads' drinking and smoking and looking at other women. No love, it's not the life you want."

She chuckled slightly and turned to face him front on, a mischievous glint in her forest green eyes, "so, what, you're saying I'm meant to be happy knowing that if me and my two brothers and the smouldering British man don't kill these supernatural wankers the entire world ends? Knowing that millions of lives depend on us and because of that we never get the chance to live normal lives, never get the chance to fall in love or have a family or an education. That's what you're saying?"

He beamed back at her, his blue eyes hooded as he leaned forwards slightly, their noses nearly touching and whispered, "no, what I'm saying is that you've been given this life, given this responsibility and you should make the most of it. And besides, there's nothing stopping you from falling in love and having that stuff, you just need to do it with someone that has the same…" he paused, his gaze trailing down to the short shorts she was sporting before slowly trailing back up to meet her gaze, his eyes darker and richer in a way that made Belle's stomach flutter, "interests."

And before she could say anything more, with a devilish wink, he was wandering down the stairs and down the hallway out of sight, leaving Belle standing alone slightly breathless and more than a little giddy.


	6. I know

Authors note:

Thanks for reading all and please leave a comment if you can

**Chapter 6**

When Dean and Sam came back into the bunker in the very early hours of the following morning neither of them had quite anticipated seeing their little sister and Constantine asleep on the couch in the main library. Sam stopped at the top of the steps, staring down at Belle stretched out on the couch with her head resting on John's knee while he slept slouched in the chair with his head resting against the back of the couch.

"Dean," Sam whirled around to look at his older brother though he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence.

"Hey!" Dean was already storming passed Sam and down into the library, "get up!"

John slowly opened one eye, his body exhausted and too weary to be over active at that time of the morning. Belle however was already sitting straight up, bleary eyed and staring at her two brothers in the doorway. Dean looked positively ropeable.

"What the Hell were you doing?" he barked, standing over the two of them angrily.

"Nothing, we were doing some research and must have fallen asleep," Belle said with a falsely nonchalant shrug.

"Didn't look like that to me," the eldest brother remarked.

"Dean, come on," Sam was standing beside his brother now, "let it go, they fell asleep, it's not like we walked in on them doing it or anything. It's been a long day and we could do with some sleep too. Come on."

Dean looked like he was about to blow a gasket, his eyes were menacing as he looked between the now fully awake John and his youngest sibling. Even though he wanted to stand around and yell and get upset he knew full well that his brother was right. It was nothing, the two had been researching and they had fallen asleep, the books spread out on the small coffee table and Belle's open laptop on the floor was a clear sign of that.

"Fine, but everyone," he glared at John, "sleeps in their _own _bedrooms."

"Dean, for God's sake we're not teenagers," Belle hissed, shaking her head at her brother's heinous overreaction to the entire situation.

"Just go," he barked and within seconds the two had trudged off together down the hallway.

"Your brother doesn't seem to like me much," John said suppressing a yawn as the two walked together to their rooms.

"Dean doesn't really like anyone much," Belle said with a smile, "he's harmless though. Just protective and tired."

Constantine laughed a little as the two came to a halt out the front of Belle's bedroom, "sorry I fell asleep on your knee."

He couldn't help but smile as rich colour flooded into Belle's cheeks, "don't worry about it love. I certainly didn't mind it."

Belle's eyes flashed up to meet his blue ones in the dim hallway lights, "really?"

He shrugged, "it's nice to have some company other than Chas."

Belle felt her heart sink a little, "of course. Have you spoken to him at all?"

"Not yet, I'll get in contact with him soon though, let him know where everything is at. We agreed that he shouldn't get involved with this one, much to his disgust."

"Fair enough," Belle leaned against the doorframe and looked down at her bare feet, "I should probably get to bed, it's pretty late."

"Of course," he flashed her another smile and started down the hallway, "oh, and just for the record love, I liked spending time alone with you this past day."

"Me too," she gave him a half smile before stepping back into her room and closing the door, leaning her back against it for a moment as a full blown grin surfaced on her face.

John slipped into his room, flicked on the light and gently clicked the door shut behind him standing alone in the somewhat military styled bedroom. He couldn't seem to stop the smile that was playing on his lips as he stared at the grey walled room. There was something about Belle that had gotten under his skin, something he couldn't explain even if he wanted to. He stripped down to his boxers and flopped onto the bed, his mind racing with moments of the day the two had spent together. Not that it had been anything out of the ordinary, mostly reading and writing and not much talking, but he couldn't seem to get the girls shining emerald green eyes and her brilliant smile out of his head.

"Come on," he whispered to himself, forcing his eyes closed, "as if she felt the same thing."

Belle lay back onto the bed, her oversized t-shirt crumpling up around her as she breathed in the smell of the fresh, clean sheets. Without Sam and Dean around John had seemed like a completely different person, he wasn't as sarcastic or closed off, he laughed and cracked jokes. He was almost the polar opposite of the obnoxious jerk he was when the boys were there and as Belle drifted off to sleep, she found her dreams were filled with images of a British man with the most amazing ocean blue eyes and an attitude to match.

When Sam came stumbling out of his room later that morning the sun was just barely creeping up into the sky, casting thin golden light into the mostly closed off bunker. Dean was already sitting at one of the tables in the main room staring into a bowl of cereal absently.

"Morning," Sam said through a half yawn, plonking himself down into the chair opposite his brother and grabbing one of the four bowls Dean had gotten out.

"Hey," Dean grumbled back.

"What's up?" Sam cocked his eyebrow at his brother as he poured himself some cereal and doused it with milk.

Dean blinked a few times dragging himself away from his thoughts and looked over to where Sam was staring back at him expectantly, "what?"

Sam shook his head a little and grabbed a spoon, "something's bothering you, you can see that a mile off."

Dean sat back into his chair, playing with his half-finished cereal, "aren't you worried about this Constantine dude?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's obviously got something for Belle," Dean explained slowly, "and I mean, doesn't that bother you?"

Sam shrugged, "not really."

"Come on Sammy, the guy is trouble surely you can see that a mile off?"

"No Dean, I can't. People say that stuff about us too you know, that we're trouble. Hell we've even told each other that we're nothing but trouble," he swirled the cereal around with his spoon, "doesn't mean we're bad people. He's in the same profession as us, Dean and that says something about him."

"It says that he's trouble," Dean replied letting his spoon clink down into the bowl with a sigh.

Sam rolled his eyes a little and sat forwards, "give the guy a chance Dean. I'm sure people thought exactly the same thing about us and about our family. If we weren't given the chances we were we wouldn't be here now. Remember that."

"Remember what?" Belle came sauntering out into the main room and flopped down onto the chair next Sam, nudging him and nodding her head towards the cereal.

"Nothing," Dean replied curtly, sliding a bowl and the cereal towards his little sister.

Belle shrugged a little and poured the food into her bowl casually. Sam was just about to make a comment when there was a resounding banging on the front door. The three of them stopped dead, a look passing between them before Dean slid his chair back and made his way towards the door. Sam and Belle craned their necks around the corner to see who was there that early in the morning. Dean had barely slid the lock back when the door went flying open and Chas came barrelling into the room in a flurry of garbled words and panicked looks.

"Chas?" Belle slid her chair back coming over to where Chas was practically bounding down the stairs and into the library area.

"Where's John?" he managed to blurt, "I need to speak to him, where is he?"

"Calm down, he's still asleep," Sam stood up and came to stand beside his little sister looking on cautiously.

"I need to speak to him right now, which room is he in?"

"All right Chachi, calm down and tell us what's going on?" Dean exclaimed from the top of the stairs.

"I got _this_ on the door step this morning," Chas shakily held up a sheet of crumpled paper, a deeply disturbing depiction of four people that looked shockingly like the Winchester siblings and Constantine being burned to death and flayed by demons brandished across it.

"What the _Hell_ is that?" Dean exclaimed, a flash of anger crossing his strong features.

"It's one of Zed's drawings," the four turned to look over at Constantine as he came sauntering out from the hallway, his shirt open and his hair ruffled from sleep, "they're sending us a warning."

"You think the Brujeria have her?" Sam asked, a slight edge of worry in his voice.

"I don't think mate," Constantine looked across to where Chas was staring back at him, "I know."


	7. King of Hell

Authors note:

Thanks for reading all and please leave a comment if you can

**Chapter 7**

"Okay so, let me get this straight," Dean was leaning against the doorframe whilst Sam, Belle, Chas and John sat at the table a few feet in front of him, "this girlfriend of yours…"

"She's not a girlfriend," John jumped in a little too quickly.

Dean gave him a frustrated glance, "_whatever_, this girl you know, sends you some messed up drawing and you take that as some sort of hoodoo voodoo crap and decide that this means she can see the future?"

"She knew that the invunche were back," Chas said with a slight tinge of regret.

"How?" Sam asked leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

"She was drawing pictures of them before we left for Mexico," John exclaimed with a ragged sigh, "I didn't think much of it until we got down there, obviously. That's when I figured I should start taking her premonitions a little more seriously."

"So what you're just going to take this scribble as gospel or something?" Belle asked with a little more bitterness coming through than she had hoped.

John turned to her with a smirk, "something the matter with that?"

Belle shrugged, her eyes catching with her oldest brother's momentarily, a strange sort of protectiveness in his forest green eyes.

"Don't be a jackass," Dean barked before Belle could say a word, "if we're going to go on some wild goose chase across the country or whatever then we had better have a damn good reason. Some girl scribbling on a page does _not_ constitute a reason. So give us something else, or it's no deal."

Chas shot John a quick warning glance before speaking, "she has premonitions. Everything she has drawn has in some way come true, whether we face the demon or monster she drew a few days later or whether she has a full on premonition, what she tells us is solid."

The three Winchester's shared a quick look, "okay then. So what do we do now?"

"You enlist the help of a demon."

Everyone turned towards the entrance at the same time, "Moose, Squirrel, it's been far too long."

At the heavily accented sound of Crowley's voice Dean's hand went straight to the burned pattern on his arm involuntarily.

"Who's this guy?" John asked, turning back to look at the siblings.

"Name's Crowley son, and who pray tell is this little gem? Though it is nice to see you kids are spending some time with some more quality people," the demon smiled, his eyes almost lighting up as he started down the stairs towards the group.

"His name is John Constantine," Belle exclaimed with a sigh, pushing her chair back and standing up, "why are you here Crowley?"

"Because I figured that I could lend a bit of a hand," he stepped down onto the floor and glanced up at the ceiling of the bunker, "nice place you've acquired here."

"_Why _are you _here _Crowley?" Belle repeated coming to stand with her hands folded in front of the demon.

"Like I said, I came to offer you my services," he smiled, lacing his fingers together in front of him.

"The last time we met," Dean's voice was so low it was barely audible, "I promised you if I _ever_ saw you again, I'd kill you."

Belle glanced over her shoulder at her brother before looking back to Crowley with raised eyebrows, "you're screwed."

"I figured," Crowley gave Belle a pointed look, "that in light of recent events and the whole coming darkness thing, you might be able to use my connections."

"You figured _wrong_," Dean's voice bounced off the walls, his eyes fearsome and filled with unhinged rage, "now get the _hell _out of our home before I make good on my promise."

"Dean, wait," Sam stood up and crossed the room to where his brother was standing, "he could help us."  
>"How is he going to help us?" Dean spat back, "in case you hadn't noticed the people that want to bring about this supposed darkness are the blood sucking, soul stealing <em>assholes <em>that live down there with _him_!"

"Wrong," Crowley looked from the two brothers to Belle then back, "the people that want to bring about this impending darkness are actually right up here in toy town with you kids. The people they want to release from my little edge of the galaxy are the ones I have spent my entire time making sure were locked away in the deepest, darkest parts of Hell."  
>"What's in it for you?" Belle asked.<p>

"Put it this way, most of them are somewhere in the same realm as Lucifer and if these bastards unlock that cage and release that sort of evil on this level then I'm screwed as well. Chances are I get extinguished along with you little dears, and I'm not quite ready to relinquish my throne."

Belle turned to look at her two brothers standing in the doorway, Dean seething and Sam looking like there was a thousand thoughts racing through his brain at once.

"Who _is_ this guy?" John asked again, a slight smirk on his face.

"King of Hell, and I've heard quite a few stories about you Mr Constantine," Crowley gave the other man a brief smile, "quite the little dabbler I hear."

John was staring back at Crowley with barely concealed disbelief; Chas already knew what he was going to ask well before he asked it though, "if you're the King of Hell, you could get a soul out of there then right?"

Crowley gave a half-hearted shrug, "depends on where exactly that soul went."

John leaned back against the chair, his arm slung over the back of it casually, but before he could say anything Crowley spoke again, "I know which soul it is you want out little boy and I'm sorry to tell you it won't happen. That particular little light was extinguished a long ago."

"There has to be a way though," Constantine rose to his feet, "there has to be some sort of spell or summoning or something that we can do. With you on our side we…"

"No," Crowley barked, all ease and nonchalant airs gone, "I _know_ who you're trying to get back and it _won't_ happen. You messed up boy and in this particular situation that is a mistake you are just going to have to learn to live with."

John looked like he had just had the wind completely knocked out of him a look of utter defeat on his face, though it only lasted for a moment, it was just long enough for Belle to notice.

"How exactly are you going to help us?" Sam asked after a long pause.

"Well," Crowley flashed a massive grin at the siblings, "I have a way to combat those pesky little skin freaks you encountered in Mexico."  
>"How?" Dean hissed.<p>

"Well," the demon's eyes flashed with a brief glimmer of joy, as he turned to Dean, "it's going to involve you and I spending a little more of that _quality _time together."

Then to Constantine, "and you and I getting to know one another just that little bit better."

Belle's jaw clenched as she turned back to face the demon, "what _exactly_ have you got planned?"

"Oh my dear little baby Winchester," Crowley grinned, "how about a cuppa before we go into plans to save the world?"


	8. The Mark

Authors note:

Thanks for reading all and please leave a comment if you can

**Chapter 8**

"No chance!" Sam was standing with his arms folded tightly across his chest as Crowley sat on the couch in the main library area, the others scattered at different intervals around the room.

"It's the only option we have," Dean replied from across the room.

"How do you know?! Have you even _looked_ into other options Dean?" Sam retorted.

The eldest brother shook his head and sighed, "we know this is a sure fire plan Sammy, what better chance do we have?"

Sam glared across the room at his brother, "it doesn't matter how sure fire it is. It could be completely bulletproof for all I care, we have to find another way!"

"Why?" Chas asked from his seated position on the stairs, "what's so bad about using this blade thing?"

Belle shook her head a little dejectedly as Sam rounded on the other man, "what's so bad? It turned my brother into a goddamn killing machine! He turned into a demon, that's what was _so bad_ about it!"

"Moose here was just upset that I managed to take his precious sibling away from him. See the three have been inseparable since daddy went missing all those years ago and when I got up close and personal with one of them the other two didn't like it," Crowley smiled from his position on the couch, crossing one leg over the other casually.

"Shut it Crowley," Dean barked menacingly, his eyes never once leaving Sam.

"So he went dark side for a while, is it really that bad?" Constantine piped up with a half-hearted shrug.

"Are you kidding?" Sam replied with a sharp bark of a laugh, "he _turned into_ a demon, not possessed by one, _turned into one!_ If that isn't _that_ bad then I don't know what is!"

"Come on, it wasn't _all_ bad," Crowley said with a smirk, "I mean he slaughtered some pretty impressive bad guys. We had some fun together didn't we Squirrel?"

Dean wasn't listening though, he was staring across the room at his sister sitting on the bottom step staring at her hands. Sam and he had spoken about the Mark situation, they had spoken at length, albeit it awkwardly, about all of the things that the blade and the Mark had made Dean do. They had spoken about Dean's attempt to kill Sam and the horrific things he had done as a result of the overwhelming power he was filled with. Though every time the Mark came up in conversation Belle had either fled the room or shut down completely. She'd told Dean a number of times that it didn't bother her but he could see from the sheer look on her face that this was something that was tearing her apart inside.

"You were the reason he was ruthless, he didn't just _kill_ monsters but he _maimed_ and _slaughtered_ them. Hell I'm pretty sure he killed the odd innocent person as well Crowley. _That's _not having fun," Sam hissed.

"That entirely depends on who you speak to," Crowley replied with a grin.

Sam's response was lost on Belle though, she was already standing up from her positon and climbing up the stairs and walking out into the other room. She was vaguely aware of the conversation still surging on behind her as she climbed the stairs towards the bunker door.

"Belle!" Dean came bounding out of the door after his sister, the brisk morning air sending an instant shiver through his body. The young girl sucked in a deep breath and turned to face her brother.

"We need to talk about this," his voice was low as he came to stand in front of his sibling, "I know you don't want to remember it, trust me kid I don't want to remember it either but it happened and we need to clear this before we take on the end of the world again."

Belle's brilliant green eyes rose to meet her brother's, both of them seeming far richer than normal, reflecting the forest around them. When she spoke though she didn't have the same conviction and certainty as she normally did, "I don't want to talk about it Dean. I'm not ready."

He nodded slightly, "I get that Belle I do, but, this is big. We are talking about some serious shit here, I need to know that you and I are going to be united, that we can work together on this and I can trust you to have me covered."

Belle's eyes seemed to darken, her expression hardening just slightly so minutely that if Dean didn't know his sibling as well as he did he would never have noticed, "You know full well that I will _always_ have your back Dean. I can't believe you would even _think_ of questioning that."

She was getting more and more pent up as she spoke, her shoulders tightening and her hands clenching at her sides, "I have only _ever_ had your backs! You two are the only two people in this _world_ that I would risk everything for! I've been to Hell and back with and for both of you, so how can you just stand there and ask me to confirm that I'm going to have you covered Dean? How?!"

Dean could feel his chest tighten as his sister's hand involuntarily went across her stomach, her eyes guarded as she looked down to the ground with a sigh.

"We need to sort this out," Dean took a step forward, ducking his head a little so that he could meet her downturned eyes, "please Belle. We can't keep avoiding this, it's got to come up at some point."

She shook her head slightly, white hot tears welling behind her eyes as she sucked in a deep breath and raised her head to meet her brother's gaze, "you nearly killed me Dean. You _wanted _to hurt me."

"No," he cut her off abruptly, "no, I didn't _want_ to hurt you."

"Then why did you?" her voice came out shakier than she wanted. She wanted to be resolute, be angry and aggressive but instead she found herself on the verge of a total breakdown. Her brother hadn't been himself, she knew that, she had spoken to Sam about it over and over again, but that didn't change what happened. Belle had managed to avoid discussing it with Dean, but whenever Dean being a demon came up, she had to leave, the sad reality was that she could only internalise it and deal with it when it wasn't being waved around in front of her.

What Belle didn't realise was how badly it was tearing her brother up as well. As they stood together in the cool morning air, for the first time since Dean had gone back to normal Belle got a glimpse into how he felt, his voice unsteady as he spoke, "I can't even begin to tell you how much that killed me Belle. It wasn't like being possessed, like where your body is almost totally separate from your brain, like you're watching yourself through a glass window. This was real Belle. This was something that I can't even begin to explain."

"Try."

He took a shuddering breath, closing his eyes for a split second before meeting her gaze, "it was like being on drugs. You know everything that is happening and you think to yourself 'this is so wrong' and yet you keep doing it because it just feels so good. But, when I was traipsing around the bunker trying to find you and Sam something inside of me hit a brand new level. I've never wanted to intentionally maim someone, or kill someone before, and when I was killing monsters and demons and things that was fine, I didn't seem to care, but this… this was different. I found myself _wanting_ to find you guys. _Wanting _to inflict pain."

Belle folded her arms protectively over her stomach as her brother spoke, "are you seriously telling me you _wanted _Sam and me dead? Really?"

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shook his head, "I know how that sounds Belle."

"Do you?" she hissed swiping angrily at a stray tear that had broken the barrier and fallen down her cheek.

"Yes!" he bit back, green eyes flaring, "yes, I do know how that sounds. Jesus Christ, you have no idea what this feels like! I couldn't even begin to imagine how I would live without you guys, I can't even think of that world because it destroys me. But when I was trying to find you guys, when I did what I did to you, the logic that I was operating under was… flawless."

Belle simply remained stock still, hand clutching the scar where Dean had sliced her stomach open with the butcher's knife, waiting for her brother to continue. He ran his hand absently through his hair and down across his eyes, wiping the tears from his face as he did so.

"The only thing I could think was how much easier my life would be without you guys. I didn't give a damn about anything or anyone when I was a demon that's for sure, and yet, when I thought of you two I couldn't help but feel something. So as a demon I figured to stop that tiny spark of humanity inside me I had to take out the thing that started it. Belle, you and Sam, you guys have always been my weak spot, even as a demon. My logic was to kill you both, because apparently I thought that was something I could do but," he looked up to the grey blue sky above them and blinked back tears, trying desperately to get some sort of composure.

"But?" Belle's voice was so soft and small that it nearly set her brother off entirely.

"But when I actually had the chance to kill you, I couldn't do it," he closed his eyes, fighting off the memory of grabbing his sister around the neck and slamming the knife into her stomach.

The young girl shook her head, tears falling from her eyes freely, "that's a lie Dean. If you couldn't do it then you wouldn't have tried to slice my stomach open."

"No," he choked back tears, steadied himself then looked down to his youngest sibling, "no, I got as far as to get the knife in there, if Cas hadn't grabbed me around the neck and dragged me off of you that knife never would have done as much damage as it had. I thought, God I thought, I could do it but once I felt that blade go through your stomach something inside of me broke. It was like some deep, hidden part of me was holding me back. Belle, I know what I did was unforgiveable, I know it was probably the absolute worst thing that I could do and there's no way you could ever forgive me but you have to try and understand that wasn't me."

Belle's eyes were focused on her brother's heinously scuffed and blood stained boots, tears burning in her eyes and a horrible lump in the back of her throat. To say she looked up to her brothers was an understatement, a gross understatement in fact. She adored the two of them in a way that she couldn't even begin to understand, her entire world revolved around them and as she listened to Dean's explanation she felt herself completely falling apart at the seams.

"We have fought and killed hundreds if not thousands of monsters in this life Dean," she exclaimed finally unable to hold back the tears, "I have seen every type of horrible thing this world has to offer, human, demon, monster or otherwise and yet I have never in my life been as completely petrified as I was that day."

Dean stood quietly watching as his sister wiped the tears from her face, took a deep breath and met his gaze, "I felt like I could do anything in this world so long as you and Sammy were there to protect me, to fight with me. Dean…" her voice broke and before she could stop herself her entire body was wracked with hysteria. Without even thinking Dean wrapped his arms around his little sister, pulling her against him, surprised by just how tiny she felt as he held her tightly against his chest.

"I can't go through that again Dean, please," she sobbed into his chest, "please don't make me go through that again."

"I won't. I swear it Belle," he planted a soft kiss on the top of her head, blinking back his own tears as he listened to his youngest sibling try to regain some sort of composure.

After a few moments Belle finally stepped back wiping at her already red raw, tear stained eyes as she looked up at her brother, "I love you Dean, I always will and," she took a deep, shuddering breath, "if you think this is what you have to do, then do it. I can't promise to be okay about it, I can't even promise to not try and fight it, but I can promise to stand with you no matter what, like I always have."

He swiped a stray strand of hair from her face and nodded, his voice soft as he wrapped his arms back around his sister, "that's why I have to do this kid. I have to keep you guys safe, I owe you that much at least. But you have my word, I won't _ever_ let anything hurt you again. Not even me."


	9. Balcony

Authors note:

Sorry for the **massive** delay in uploads. I am working on editing my own novel at the moment which is taking up most of my time! I'm looking to get it published soon, if anyone wants more info feel free to DM me! Thanks for reading all and please leave a comment if you can

**Chapter 9**

"What are you doing up here?" Belle turned to look over her shoulder as Castiel came sauntering out of the bunker and onto the makeshift balcony.

She smiled up at him and swung her legs back and forth over the edge of the platform, "just thinking I guess."

The angel watched her for a few moments before taking a seat beside her, sliding his legs over the side and leaning his arms on the small metal bar in front of his chest, "it's quite beautiful up here at this time."

"Yeah, it's definitely a pretty wonderful place," she glanced sideways at the man beside her, contemplating whether or not to ask the next question, "how are you managing the whole grace situation Cas?"

His blue eyes seemed to grow sadder in that moment, "for the moment I am fine."

"But?"

He let out a sigh and looked down to the earth below them, "but I don't know how long that will last."

"Why wouldn't it last?" John's heavy accent floated across to the two sitting down.

Castiel didn't even bother to turn and look over his shoulder like Belle did, "because it's not my grace. The grace I have will not last forever and if I don't find my own, then I don't stand much of a chance at surviving."

He looked across at Belle and with one final sad smile pushed himself up off the ground, turned and walked back into the bunker.

Belle looked over her shoulder, watching as Castiel disappeared inside and John came to plonk himself down beside her in the exact spot the angel had been only moments before.

"What's happening out here?" he asked looking around at the surrounding woodland.

"Nothing interesting," she replied, leaning back onto her hands, "what's happening in there?"

He looked at her sideways with a smirk, "everything. But I would hazard a guess and say that's exactly why you are out here?"

She smiled back at him, "you'd be pretty on the mark with that guess then."

"I try."

The two sat for a long moment, the distant humming of cars on a far off road offering a subtle reminder that they were still a part of the world and not totally isolated.

"Are you worried about Zed?" Belle wasn't entirely certain why she was asking, she already knew the answer.

"Of course," he folded his arms over the railing and let his head rest on them, "she's a great girl."

Belle cast him a long sideways look, her green eyes dark against the forest as she weighed up the man beside her.

"Stop looking at me like that," he said, eyes still cast out at the forest.

"Like what?" she leaned back into her hands.

"Like I'm some sort of strange creature that you might have to kill," he replied with a half-smile.

"Maybe you are," she replied, a hint of sadness in her voice.

John lifted his head from his arms and turned to look at her straight on, "why would you say that?"

There was a sad reality that came with the line of work the Winchester's and Constantine did, Belle knew it probably better than any of them. She sucked in a deep breath arranging her thoughts before replying to his question.

"There comes a point in every single hunters life when they all but turn into the things they have spent their lives killing," she looked up to the pale blue sky above them, "whether you turn into a demon, a werewolf, a vampire, or a ghost, you _will _turn into the things you have grown to hate. It's inevitable."

"Like death?" he sat back so they were on the same level.

"Of course," she smiled, though it wasn't filled with any sort of joy, "everyone dies. That's something you should know better than anyone else."

She gave him a sidelong look before laying back onto the platform entirely, "for the majority out there though, death is probably the most horrifying thing they have to worry about. They never have to be concerned with the things that go bump in the night or the fact that angels are jerks and the devil is interesting. They never have to watch their family turn into demons."

John arched his eyebrow before letting out a short sort of barked laugh, "when did we get so deep and meaningful love?"

Belle could feel the colour rise in her cheeks at his comment and instantly sat up, quickly pulling herself up so she was leaning against the railing looking out at the forest around them.

"I'm not," she sighed, instantly embarrassed by the little out pour, "I'm just talking."

Constantine slowly rose to his feet, watching the woman beside him intently as he leaned against the bar next her. He knew what she was saying, and he completely understood the place that it was coming from. They were about to embark upon one of the biggest tasks of their lives and as the two stood there in silence that weight and the reality of it seemed to settle itself on both of their shoulders.

"Sorry," Belle whispered after a long moment, "I didn't mean to get all weird. This is just a big deal I think."

"Of course it is, and you have every right to be off," he turned to face her side on, his right elbow resting on the railing, "it's not exactly unexpected. You're risking a lot to save this place."

Belle nodded, suddenly transfixed by a thin line of dirt underneath one of her nails. He watched her for a long moment before nudging her shoulder lightly, "give your brother some credit love. The second time around he may be able to handle himself and everything better."

She gave him a half-hearted nod, a heaviness weighing on her like she had never felt before, "you say that, but I know my brother. I know what happened that first time and I know that he will be taken over by this entirely. He can't stop it, and you have no idea what that will do to not just me but Sam as well. This is my _family_ we are talking about."

Without any warning Constantine grabbed Belle's arm, gently guiding her so that she was facing him, "I get it Belle, I do. But if we _don't_ do this, if your brother doesn't go down that twisted, messed up rabbit hole then the _entire world_ goes down. I know it's your family you're risking here but you need to see the bigger picture love. It's a terrible price to pay no doubt, and it shouldn't fall to you guys to pay it but it has. You can either get back in that bunker and spend some time with your brother before he gets shipped off or you can stay up here and mope about the life he may not get to live. If I were you though, I know exactly where I would be."

Belle stared up at John for a long moment before giving him a slight nod and turned to head inside.

She was about to walk back down the steps and into the bunker when something pulled her back, without even considering what she was doing she walked back over to where John was standing looking out at the forest and gently pressed her lips to his cheek. A movement so subtle and tender that it took him completely by surprise, his blue eyes wide as he stared down at her.

"Thank you," she said with a fleeting smile and disappeared back into the bunker without another word leaving Constantine standing dumbfounded and alone on the balcony, only his thoughts to keep him company.


End file.
